FicWad

Chapter Eighteen – Don’t Have To Prove That You Are So Strong


Shay rushed after the ball in the garden as she played with her children and she stopped dead as she saw those slim legs standing at the gate. She looked up and saw Pete’s hands gripped tightly around the bars.

He took her breath away. She hated it but he loved it.

“You should leave-“

“-I don’t want to leave, I want to see the children.”

“You can’t see the children.” She whispered back quickly.

“Please!” he gasped.

Shay stared at him, his sad eyes imploring her to let him in.

“Patrick will-

“-I won’t let him do anything -“

“-Uncle Pete!!!!” Rory said excitedly, racing down to the gate. He reached up and pressed the button to let him in and Shay watched helplessly as Rory let him in. He quickly threw his arms around Pete’s waist.

“Uncle Peter!!” Yelled Aimee and she joined Rory. Shay made her way over to the struggling toddler and helped her take the steps towards him.

“Hey you….” he said, picking up Natalie.

They slowly walked back up to the house, Shay’s nerves completely unsure of the safety of this decision. Woman’s intuition had a very bad feeling about it.

Pete had this way of captivating the children, he was child-like in his demeanour and they loved him for it. Shay stood nervously in the doorway of the room, watching him entertain all three of them with a spell like quietness.

Natalie squealed as she knocked down the brickwork they had been building.

“Oh that was spiteful Natalie.” Pete said, Shay giggled gently but watched as his hand cupped the girls face gently and he admired her silently. Aimee clambered on to Pete’s shoulders and made sure he wasn’t giving her younger sister more attention than was due.

Patrick walked closer to the room and he stared as Pete was sat on the floor with all three of his children, he took note of Shay’s nervous stance in the doorway.

“I told you to stay away.” Patrick said calmly, Shay’s heart jumped and she turned quickly.

“The children wanted to see him Patrick.” Shay said softly.

Patrick stared at her, she was scared.

“Daddy!” Aimee said excitedly and ran up to him, squeezing his thighs tight. Rory followed.

“I miss you Daddy…” Aimee said sadly.

“Daddy misses you all too, very much.” He said, embracing them affectionately.

Natalie reached up to Pete to be picked up, not wanting to miss out on the excitement of her Dad’s arrival, he leaned down to pick her up.

“Don’t you touch her.” Patrick said, walking quickly over to him and picking his daughter up, Natalie buried her head into Patrick’s neck and he held his daughter close.

“You stay away from her.”

“I was just spending some time with them.”

“Yeah well, you’ve done that, now you can leave.” Patrick said.

“This is stupid Patrick – we need to talk about this.” Pete petitioned him

“Don’t try to win my kids over Pete, it won’t work.” He said.

“You’re full of shit you know that?” Pete said, walking away.

Rory and Aimee looked alarmed, seeing their Dad and Uncle get angry.

Shay gently moved behind her two oldest children and put her arms over their shoulders.

“You always want what’s not yours Pete, that’s how you work, that’s what gives you your thrill.” Patrick said, he tone menacing to Shay and Pete.

“You’re talking shi-“

“-Well you can’t have mine.” Patrick finished.

“She’s my daughter Patrick-.” Pete said nervously.

“She’ll never be your daughter. “

Shay walked over to them and she took Natalie from Patrick’s embrace, he pulled back slightly but Shay yanked her daughter from him.

She stood and stared at them both.

“You don’t let Natty hear this!” She whispered angrily.

They both looked back at her, astounded at her words.

Gathering her children, she left the room quickly and she shut the door behind her.



Patrick paced angrily, he wanted this out with Pete, he had to get it out of his system.

“Why is Daddy shouting?” Aimee frowned, looking bewildered.

“He’s very angry baby, that’s why.”

“Did we do some wrong?” she frowned.

“No sweetheart…” she said quietly, kissing her daughter’s head softly.

“Rory – Come here, I need to talk to you.” Shay said softly, he obediently came to his Mom and their big Mexia eyes looked at each other.

“There’s going to be a lot of shouting, I don’t want you to be scared….Daddy and Uncle Pete need to sort something out and Mom needs to help them but I need you to stay here and look after the girls for me ok?” she asked, he just nodded quickly.

“Play some music, watch a DVD , whatever you want…” She said softly to him, ruffling his hair. She looked back to him slowly before closing the door behind her.

Shay hurried back to the room where she could hear the war of words had already begun. Her wide eyes stared as she saw both men angrily displaying their betrayal to each other.

“You always wanted what wasn’t yours! I’ve never known anyone as selfish as you – how could you do this to me?” Patrick yelled angrily.

“You never put your family first – what happened wasn’t planned, it just did, but if you’d been there – then maybe none of this would’ve-“

“-You shut up! This has nothing to do with me not being there, I tried my best!! This is about you taking what wasn’t yours!!”

“She runs to me Patrick – did you know that?”

Patrick glared at him.

“Pete stop!” Shay pleaded, both men turned to her.

“That night you put work before her – she came to me…” he said coldly.

“Pete….” Shay said, shaking her head.

Patrick stared at Shay.

She was unsure of how much more she could take.

Patrick broke, he lashed at Pete and a swift punch to the face sent him to the floor.

“No!” Shay cried and unceremoniously charged towards them both, pulling them from each other.

“Stop!!” She cried, pulling Patrick from Pete.

“You bastard!!” Patrick growled.

Shay grabbed Pete’s hand to stop him fighting her husband back.

“Momma?!” Shay flew her head around to see her Son standing, mortified at what he was witnessing.

“You stop now!!” She cried at both men.

Patrick threw Pete down and stood back up, seeing his petrified son’s eyes. He wiped his nose slowly, there was no blood, it just hurt like a bitch.

“Why are you fighting with Uncle Pete?” he asked, his big eyes were devastated at what he saw, his world was turning upside down.

“Because Uncle Peter has hurt Daddy very badly.” Patrick said.

“You said-“ Rory stopped and swallowed, his adrenaline was pumping wildly around his body.

“You said violence was wrong!”

“It is wrong Mijo, El papá esta enojado, pero está por las razones que tu no entiende..” (Daddy is angry, but for reasons you cannot understand)

Rory petitioned his Mom to make sense of it all.

“¿por qué? Momma me asustan.” (Why? Momma I’m scared.)

“What is he saying?” Patrick asked angrily, he hated being left out of their loop when they did this.

“He’s saying he’s scared!” She shouted angrily.

“Go back to your room, I’ll be there in a moment.” She whispered to him, kissing him softly.

Rory looked back as he did, everything in his world was changing before his eyes. Shay glared at Patrick and Pete.

They remained silent, Pete touched his nose again and clambered up off the floor.

“Pete….Leave.” Shay said calmly. Patrick’s fuming eyes followed him as he slowly walked and stopped just by Shay’s side.

“Shay-“

“-Just go Pete!” Shay said angrily and he left.

Patrick felt ashamed.

Now the problem was gone from the room, he felt embarrassed from his irrational yet plausibly justified actions.

“Go and be with your children.” She said to him simply. He obeyed.



Shay rushed after Pete and she yanked his arm, pulling him around.

“Why are you doing this??” She cried to him.

“What?!”

“We both asked you to leave us and our family alone – why are you doing this?!” She cried again.

“You’re asking me to do something that’s impossible!” He argued defensively.

“We are not your family Pete – God you’re 34 years old now – you should have your own family , don’t you understand that?? You can’t have us!”

“Natalie is my family!”

“No!! No she’s not Pete…..” She said calmly, Pete stared at her.


Patrick pushed back the blinds slightly and watched the two of them arguing outside.

Pete’s hand cupped her face gently and she pushed it away, angrily she pushed him away from her.

“I don’t want you Pete. Stay away from me. Stay away from our family.”

“I love you!” he said gently.

“I don’t love you.” She replied calmly.

“I don’t love you at all Pete.”

“Get your life together…..start your own family.” She cried gently.

She walked away and turned to watch him walk out the gate slowly.

Patrick turned back to his children who were playing nonchalantly, he looked back to Shay who was clutching her head and crying as she made her way back inside the house.

Feeling the strong need to talk to her, he politely left the kids to their own devices. He made his way back to the kitchen and he saw her shaking tablets from the bottle into her palm, she swallowed them quickly, then desperately gulped down water. Her hand firmly rubbed her stomach.

“Rory thinks we’re getting a divorce….” He said, she turned quickly and pushed the tablets aside firmly.

“I know.” She said casually.

“Are we?” he asked, Shay stared at him.

“What kind of question is that to ask me Patrick?” she frowned, his eyes watched her carefully.

“Shay….” Patrick said gently. She hadn’t heard that tone in his voice for some weeks now.

It took courage for her to finally look at him. She didn’t know what he was going to say, a fraction of her dreaded what could come out of his mouth.

“Maybe we should try some more sessions with Sue….” He said, she nodded.

“OK….”

He smiled faintly and she did too and then he turned and walked back to the children.




Sue sat at her desk staring at the small clock almost mocking her. She needed to prepare for this session. This was huge. Patrick and Shay were on the verge of divorce and if she didn’t step up, it would actually happen. It was times like these that Sue put way too much pressure on herself.

A loud knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts.

Sue took a deep breath and walked over to the office door. One more deep breath and she opened the door to see an exhausted looking couple. She smiled at them warmly.

“Hey you two. Come on in,” she said opening the office door more for Patrick and Shay to enter.

“Afternoon,” Patrick said politely and sat down. Shay remained silent and sat in the chair opposite of Patrick.

Sue sat down facing the couple and crossed her legs. She was praying in her head for her to say all the right things.

“Well, why don’t we start off this session by checking in with each other. Shay, how are you doing?” Sue asked focusing her attention on Shay who seemed more than out of it.

Shay sat up slightly and cleared her throat.

“Fine,” she said meekly. Sue raised her eyebrows at that response.

“Anything to add to that?” Sue asked.

Shay shrugged.

Sue looked at her with a confused expression. She wasn’t entirely sure what this behavior was portraying.

“Patrick, how are you?” Sue asked turning her attention on Patrick.

“Fine,” he nodded.

Sue set her notebook down. This was going no where.

“Alright, you two, if this is going to work we have got to start communicating with each other. You obviously want this to work or else you wouldn’t be here. So let me start again. How are you doing?” Sue asked looking towards Shay again.

“I’m exhausted. Is that what you want to hear?” Shay snapped.

“If it’s the truth, then yes,” Sue said back.

“Well, that’s it right there. I’m exhausted. I’ve got three kids to take care of and now Patrick is around even less since he has been staying at his mom’s. I don’t even have time to think for myself anymore. At least when Patrick was living at home, I’d have about thirty minutes for myself. I don’t even have that anymore,” Shay said frustrated.

“Shay, I’m trying,” Patrick said quietly.

“Really?” she asked sounding irritated.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Patrick snapped.

“Ok, let’s breathe. Shay, you are telling us that you are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. Patrick, how are you doing?” Sue asked looking over towards Patrick.

“I’m living away from my family. I’m doing pretty shitty,” he said simply. “I’m trying to balance my time between work and home equally, but when I’m not actually living in the home, it gets a little complicated. So I guess you could say that I was exhausted as well.”

Sue observed the body language between the two and it couldn’t have been any louder than if the two were screaming it out. Both of their legs were facing away from each other and they were each slouched in their chairs signalling major distance.

“There has been a huge change in your family system. Of course you both are going to be tired. It’s not easy,” Sue tried to make the tension in the room go down, but she couldn’t help but feel her back tighten up.

“How have the children been?” Sue asked getting the topic off of Shay and Patrick and focusing it back on the family.

“Good,” Shay said simply.

“Surprisingly well considering the circumstances. I don’t think I would be doing as well as them at their age,” Patrick commented.

“Children are extremely resilient,” Sue added.

Patrick nodded and smiled slightly. He was so proud of his children. They were his reason for breathing.

“Rory thinks we are getting a divorce, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that he is doing well,” Shay piped up.

Patrick looked over at Shay with disappointment in his eyes.

“So Rory is more aware of your problems?” Sue asked.

“He is older and more perceptive of adult problems. It’s obvious that he would catch on that I wasn’t staying at home and that Shay and I would have intense conversations,” Patrick explained.

“Or maybe it is the fact that he saw you and Pete fighting,” Shay spat.

Patrick now looked over at Shay with shock. Her eyes showed anger and no remorse for what she had said.

“Fighting?” Sue asked.

“What was I supposed to do, Shay? I came home and he was with MY children,” Patrick said angrily.

“You have told your son over and over again how you disagree with violence and then you go and punch Pete in the face with Rory there to witness it. Actions speak louder than words, Patrick,” Shay said upset.

“I was angry. I know it was wrong. What do you want me to do? I can’t take it back now,” Patrick said sounding almost defeated.

“Exactly. You can’t take it back,” Shay snapped.

“Alright, stop,” Sue said loudly.

Both Shay and Patrick looked over at her with shock.

“What are you two doing here?” Sue asked simply.

Shay and Patrick were rendered silent.

“Are you here to tell each other it’s over?” she asked.

Shay’s mouth opened slightly in shock by hearing that. Patrick just sat paralyzed holding his breath.

“Or are you here to work on your marriage?” Sue asked in a more calm voice.

Sue stared at both Shay and Patrick waiting for an answer. She’d wait all day for them to reply. This was something that they needed to be responsible for.

“I want to work on our marriage,” Patrick said quietly.

Sue nodded at him and then looked over at Shay.

“I do too,” she whispered.

“That’s good to hear, but the way you two are communicating right now, is not working. You two have tried yelling at each other and throwing low blows at each other. It doesn’t work. You’ve proven that already. It’s time to try something new,” Sue said sternly.

Patrick and Shay nodded slightly.

“Now I know that you two say that the children are doing well, but if they are witnessing what I have just witnessed between you two, then they are probably full of anxieties. And that’s not fair to them,” Sue said.

“What do we do?” Patrick asked. The last thing he wanted was for his and Shay’s problems to affect the children negatively in the long-term.

“Listen to each other.”

Patrick and Shay just stared at Sue now.

“All you two are doing is screaming at one another. Knock it off. Listen. You don’t have to agree with the other person, but really listen to them. Hear what they have to say. Try putting yourself in the other’s position. Gain their perspective and show respect towards the other person. As soon as you two can respect one another again and actually listen to each other, then we can work on getting your marriage back to where it should be,” Sue said to the couple before her.

Patrick and Shay had some glimmer in their eyes that she hadn’t seen in a long time. Sue’s advice was so simple, yet so complex. That’s the big piece that was missing in Patrick and Shay’s marriage.

They didn’t listen to one another.

Hearing just how much they’d hurt each other was going to be the most difficult thing of all.